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Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday he could welcome his 89-year-old mother Matilda for Thanksgiving – after spending the past two weeks teaching New Yorkers how to stay home for the holidays and telling loved ones to do the same because of the coronavirus pandemic. .
“The story is that my mom is coming and two of my daughters,” the governor said in a WAMC radio interview, adding the caveat: “But plans change. But it’s my plan.
The 180 came just a week after the governor described having difficult discussions about the holidays with his mother, who wanted to spend them with him and his other children.
“I have one conversation with my mom about Thanksgiving, several conversations about Thanksgiving. [She said] “We have to get together for Thanksgiving. Mom, we can’t get together for Thanksgiving, ”he says.
Cuomo pleaded with New Yorkers to spend the holidays alone, warning that the rapid spread of COVID-19 has increased in part thanks to small indoor gatherings in recent months as the weather has turned colder.
“My personal advice is that you don’t have family reunions – even on Thanksgiving,” he said on a conference call with reporters Wednesday.
The next day the governor urged, “This year, if you love someone, it is better and safer to stay away.”
Earlier Monday at his press briefing, Cuomo warned that Thanksgiving this year was about “life and death,” before recounting how his daughter Mariah, 25, cried over the phone to him for making the difficult decision to stay in place. Chicago.
“We go through all the logic and we decide that she won’t come home for Thanksgiving and then she starts to cry and she says, ‘I feel so bad… I couldn’t wait to see you and I can’t. not make it, ” Cuomo recalled.
“Those of you who have children know that when your child cries he kills you. You feel pain worse than they feel pain, ”he says.
Michaela, the governor’s youngest, 22, reminded him that “this is not a normal Thanksgiving. It’s a special Thanksgiving… because it’s more powerful and meaningful and it’s not just about marketing and toppings, ”Cuomo said.
Michaela, 22, and Mariah’s twin, Cara, are expected to come home for the holidays.
Cuomo later posted on twitter how “hard” it was that Mariah didn’t join the family, but couldn’t “think of a better gesture of love than to say, I make the hard choice to protect you and our family . “
The tweet did not include any mention of tentative plans for her mother to come to Albany from her Manhattan home.
The possibility drew a quick reaction online, including from New York Republican Elise Stefanik, who tweeted, “This is one of the many reasons Cuomo is America’s worst governor.”
“His arrogance and hypocrisy know no bounds.”
Councilor Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) told the Post: “The governor lives in an alternate reality.”
“Four family members, plus his police, cooks, caterers, cleaners, helpers and staff. If these strangers can come to the Governor’s Mansion for Thanksgiving, as they do daily, inside and out, then it’s another thing to tell New Yorkers that their Aunt Tilly can’t, ” said the Republican.
The boost appears to have had an effect as Cuomo’s office released a statement hours later claiming he would now be working during Turkey’s day.
“As the governor said, he had discussed seeing his mother with two of her daughters for a Thanksgiving for four people, under all guidelines issued by the state, but as he also said, the plans were always changing, ”said Rich Azzopardi, Cuomo’s senior advisor.
“Given the current circumstances with COVID, he will have to work during Thanksgiving and will not see them. Don’t tell her mother – she doesn’t know yet.
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